Linda + Olivia
One sentence sum up of the wedding vibe: Quirky, cool, f*** your standards, I-just-want-to-get-married vibes
Planned Budget: No planned budget.
Actual Budget: Approximately $5,000 for EVERYTHING (clothing and rings included)
Number of Guests: 6
Location: Public Sidewalk (around 149 Pine Street across the street from the Mexic-Arte Museum) in Downtown Austin, TX
Photographer: Andy and Carrie
Where we allocated the most funds: Photography! My partner Olivia is a huge fan of photos for every occasion. Even the most mundane things are photographed, and I am not exaggerating. Everything else, we felt, was icing on the cake and just didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. We just wanted to document our day in the most beautiful way, and Andy and Carrie delivered 1,000 times over.
Where we allocated the least funds: Rings, if you can believe it. Up until a week before the wedding, we were wearing silicone rings (we both are constantly active and workout regularly). A week before the wedding, I snagged a dainty, plain, gold band from Etsy and Olivia got a white ceramic ring. Although it is the most common way to find out whether someone is married, a diamond or an overpriced anything made no sense to either of us.
What was totally worth it: The bouquet and boutonniere. We made many changes at the last minute and whether to get a professionally made bouquet and boutonniere was one of those changes. In true Texan fashion, I envisioned us waltzing into the H-E-B grocery store approximately three minutes from our home and just grabbing whatever spoke to me, tying it with the black velvet ribbon I purchased on Etsy and going to our elopement destination. I decided against it because I genuinely enjoy flowers. On a Wednesday after work. For my birthday. Whenever. I am a flowers girl, so I got the flowers. Also, Olivia thought it would be a nice accessory on her custom made jacket, so she agreed. We also reserved an hour at Sekrit Theatre before our nuptials. Sekrit Theatre is an Austin resident’s backyard, which is full of antiques and eccentric things like abandoned buses, old victorian-looking couches and chairs, and even a disco ball. We took some incredibly fun photos there! It turned out to be one of our favorite parts of the day.
What was totally not worth it: Honestly, there is nothing we wish we had not done. Before even planning how we would get married, we zeroed in on the things that really mattered to us: photos and having fun. I think that we achieved that, even in the midst of COVID.
A few things that helped us along the way: Being flexible and focusing on what matters always helped put things into perspective throughout the process. We originally planned on eloping at one of our favorite cities in the US: Chicago. We had everything planned: flights, AirBnB, dinner reservations at a Michelin star restaurant, and a photographer. COVID had other plans. We chose not to expose ourselves or the residents of Chicago, so we changed everything a month before October 1, 2020, our original wedding date. Fortunately for us, everything worked out even better than we originally planned.
My best practical advice for my planning self: Nothing has to be perfect! Remember that this is supposed to be fun and happy and about the two of you. Everything else is just capitalism.
Favorite thing about the wedding: Our post wedding festivities were one for the books! We drank way too much champagne and prosecco with two of our friends who got a hotel room at the (haunted/historical) Driskill. We people watched at the balcony that faces 6th street, and after it got way too late, we grabbed some Voodoo Doughnuts to cap the night off. Oh, and our friend Roderick Moreland officiating our wedding.
Anything else: We got married on Halloween AND a blue moon!
